Blind Tasting
by MrMUnited95
Summary: Akira had some curry dishes he made and he invites Makoto to LeBlanc to try it out for a little tasting session with a twist. ShuMako Week 2020, Day 5 (Coffee/Dinner Date/Cooking)


**A/N: Ok. Firstly, I'm so, so sorry this came out so late. I was sooooo out of it last Friday and Saturday that I couldn't get it going to writing. Better late than ever. Hope you enjoy reading.**

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**Day 5: Coffee/Dinner Date/Cooking**

Akira Kurusu is currently stirring a pot of curry. And he stirs another one and another one. Akira rubbed the sweat off his forehead after he prepped and cooked all three curry pots today.

"Can't wait for her to try all this," Akira is pleased with himself that everything is under control. A few days ago, he invited Makoto to LeBlanc for another date, so to say. However, he has something in mind to make this a little more interactive as he explained to his girlfriend during another date out in Shibuya.

**Flashback, Three Days Ago**

"A curry date at LeBlanc?" Makoto eyes went slightly wide while she takes a hip from her drink.

"Yeah. I've tried a few recipes. Thought I want to have my lovely girlfriend to be the first to taste it before I get Boss' feedback, " Akira said as he rested his jaw on his hand with a grin.

"Geez, stop that," Even after a few months since they are going out, Makoto still finds herself susceptible to Akira's compliments as her face goes slightly red. Makoto puts her drink on the table as she puts her finger on her chin with her eyes closed.

"Besides, I tasted it myself and I assure you it's fine. Don't you trust me?" Akira made a dreamy smile at Makoto, which once again made the soon-to-be college student blush.

"Has anyone told you that you can work as a host in Shinjuku?" Makoto stares at her boyfriend in front of her.

"If they have, I would tell them I'm only a host for one fine lady,"

"Akira-kun!" Makoto's' face is now full on red, much to Akira's enjoyment as he chuckles at her reaction.

"Well, enough about that. How about it?"

"Well… It wouldn't be bad to try them," Makoto puts a knuckle on her chin.

"Actually…. want to make this date more interesting?" Akira grinned from ear-to-ear.

"If it involves something scary, Akira-kun, I swear to god-" Makoto menacingly got up from her seat as she glares at her boyfriend in front of her

"No, it's not. It's not. I assure you," Akira's raises his hands with a sweat dropping from his face and panic in his eyes. If there's one thing Akira does not want to do is to make Makoto angry. It's basically the equivalent to making The Hulk angry.

"Good… So, what exactly do want to make this curry tasting interesting…?" Makoto sits back down.

"A blind taste test. And you have to guess what is the mystery ingredient of each curry is,"

Makoto does not know how to take this stipulation. She bit her lip as her eyes wander somewhere else.

"C'mon… Pleaseeeee?" Akira's eyes shined as he got close to Makoto's face. The way Akira begs and pleads is going to be death of Makoto.

"Alright. Alright. I'll accept," Makoto sighs as she relents in the end. Akira's smile grew wider.

"Trust me. You'll enjoy them,"

Akira turns off the stove. He tasted all three curries and he makes a beaming smile once he did, satisfied with how everything turned out.

"Just like how I made them the first time. Can't wait to see Makoto's reaction when I tell her what ingredient I put in to make each curry different," Akira licked his lips. Right on cue, he heard a knock on the door. He peers from the kitchen and sees Makoto through the glass door. Once he wiped his hands with a towel, he went towards the door to let his girlfriend in.

"Welcome to LeBlanc. What is a beautiful lady like yourself brings you here? Akira said with a soft tone and bowed with a smile. Makoto couldn't help but giggle at Akira's playfulness.

"Oh, stop it, Akira-kun,"

Both of them smiled brightly at each other as Makoto sits down by the bar and Akira back behind the counter. In front of Makoto is a long white cloth.

"So I assume that I put this on while I guess what kind of curry it is?"

"That's right. You have no idea how I look forward to this,"

"Akira-kun, you know what happens if I find out that you feed me something… unsavory," Makoto frowned at the boy in front of him.

"Makoto, you know I won't do something crazy as that considering your… fierce personality," Akira swallowed hard when he said the last part.

"I'm glad we understand that. Now…" Makoto proceeds to take the cloth and wrapped it around her head to close her eyes.

"You know, before this 'test', I studied on what kind of unconventional ingredients you can put in a curry and what would the flavor be like. I'm prepared for whatever you put out," Makoto said.

"Ever the studious, aren't you Makoto?" Akira looks over his shoulder as he plates the first curry. He brings the plate over to the bar counter. Makoto got a good smell of it.

"Wow. That does smell good," Makoto complimented.

"Right?" After Akira places the last drop of curry, he goes to the counter and places it right in front of Makoto. Akira then grabs Makoto's hand and puts a spoon in it. He then guides the spoon into the pate of the curry rice.

"Dig in,"

Makoto raises the spoon and scoops one spoonful of the curried rice into her mouth. She chews it down as she tries to get some sense of what kind of ingredient Akira puts into this plate of curry.

"_I can taste the potatoes and carrots in this. Though the taste of this curry is quite mild and I can sense some sweetness to this curry. Wait, I felt something… stringy, something fibry. And it can easily be taken apart by my teeth. Hmmm… _I can narrow it down that it's a fruit at least,"

"You're on the right track. Go on," Akira encourages

"_Something stringy, something fibre…. It can't be apple. If it is, I would've had to chew harder than I did. So that must mean… _You put dates in this, right?"

"Very good. You got it right," Akira nodded.

"But dates, hm…? I suppose it makes sense that some sweetness would pair well will curry,"

"So, what do you think?"

"It… actually is delicious. It's not bad,"

"I'm glad. But this next plate should stumble you a little bit,"

"Hmph. I'll be the judge of that,"

Akira chuckled while looking at Makoto over his shoulder. He plates the second batch of curry and places it in front of Makoto as he takes away the first one. He then guides the spoon in Makoto's hand into the second plate. She scoops it up and places the curry inside her mouth. Once she got it inside her mouth, she was surprised by the taste.

_"The curry's taste this time… This flaky texture… That's fish. I have no doubts about that. But oh, wow. This is more sour than sweet. My tongue tingles all over after the taste. There's some heat to it at least. And the curry is a lot watery compared to the first one. If I remember right… " _Makoto swallowed the curry before giving her thoughts.

"This is a curry from Thailand. I believe they used Tamarind to provide that sour taste and added Palm Sugar too for that sweetness,"

"Wow… You really did study," Akira's eyes went wide.

"Told you," Makoto said with a rare smug.

"But the third one will likely stump you," Akira repeats the same process as he carries over the third plate of curry.

"Wait, before you get into the final curry… How about I'll be the one to feed you?" Akira said with a husky voice. It made Makoto faintly blush.

"W-w-what?" Makoto flinched at the suggestion. But slowly, she ultimately agreed.

"Well, fine. But remember, Akira-kun-"

"I know, I know," Akira likes to tease Makoto when the chance arrives, but the one thing he doesn't want to do is anger her. He takes the spoon and scoops up the third plate of curry.

"Open wide," Akira's honeyed voice said. Makoto did what she was told and opened her mouth. Akira, with a seductive look, proceeded to insert the spoon into her mouth. Makoto closes her mouth on it and got all the food in her mouth as Akira withdraws the spoon.

"So, what can you guess from that?" Akira said. Makoto is chewing on the food and gulped it down.

"There's some heat to it. More than the previous one. But…"

"But…?" Akira's grin is getting more and more bigger.

"There is sweetness just like the first. But I feel something mushy as I chew it. It's almost as if I'm eating Watermelon…"

Silence envelops the café's atmosphere. If the blindfold isn't on, Akira would've seen Makoto's eyes getting bigger when a revelation hits her like a brick.

"Akira-kun, did you put Watermelon in this?!" Makoto's voice gets a little wobbly.

"Maybeeee," Akira said with a smoky voice.

"Akira-kun…" Makoto growled.

"Ok. Ok. I did put Watermelon. Pretty amazing, right?"

"It's weird. And yet, I'm kind of Ok with this,"

"Turns out this can be found in India within the Rajasthan state southwest of New Delhi. Trust me. I was confused when I read about it and when I tasted it the first time, I was surprised how good it is. I wonder if Boss has heard about this type of curry," Akira puts his fist under his chin while looking down on the plate.

"Either way, it actually tastes great and I'm sure Boss might like it,"

"Could be a unique selling point for LeBlanc to get more customers in," Akira joked which made Makoto laughed.

"So… Ready for the final item?"

"Of course. Whenever you're ready,"

Makoto braced herself to whatever Akira feeds her next. What she doesn't know is that Akira is not serving her another plate of curry. Instead, he leans over the counter and he puts his lips on to hers with light pressure for a few seconds. As soon as he pulls away, he gauges her reaction.

"_Should be any second now,"_

Right on cue, the redness slowly became apparent on Makoto's face. Her mouth opened slightly and her lips are quivering, indicating that she knows what, or rather, who touched her lips.

"Akira-kun… Did you… D-d-did you just…?" Makoto stuttered.

"Take off your blindfold to find out the answer,"

Makoto hesitantly raises her hands to undo the blindfold. She slowly took it off from her eyes and her sight is welcomed by Akira pointing in the direction of his lips with a sly gaze.

"You know… Of all the things I tasted today with the curry and all, your lips tasted the best," Akira winked with a seductive gaze towards Makoto as he licked his lips and brushes his thumb over them.

Makoto duly fainted until nightfall.

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**Personalli, I don't think this is not as polished as I would've liked compared to the last four fanfics I did. I had to do some research about curries and I really, really hope I got the info spot on, especially to readers who are from India, Thailand, the Middle East or have knowledge about food, especially in curries.**

**I hope that you enjoyed reading!**


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